Essentials: The Science & Process of Healing from Grief

Essentials: The Science & Process of Healing from Grief

From Huberman Lab by Scicomm Media

May 28, 2026 · 40 min

About this episode

This episode explores the neuroscience of grief and provides science-based tools for adaptive grieving.

In this Huberman Lab Essentials episode, I explain the neuroscience of grief, including how the brain maps relationships across three dimensions — space, time, and closeness — and why losing someone requires a remapping of those neural circuits. I describe how grief differs from depression, the role of oxytocin in driving yearning after a loss, and why people move through grief at different rates. I also discuss science-based tools for grieving adaptively, including how to access feelings of attachment while decoupling them from episodic memory. Finally, I explain how foundational biology — particularly sleep and cortisol rhythms — shapes our capacity to navigate the grieving process. Read the episode show notes at hubermanlab.com. Thank you to our sponsors AG1: https://drinkag1.com/huberman LMNT: https://drinklmnt.com/huberman Eight Sleep: https://eightsleep.com/huberman Timestamps (00:00:00) Grief (00:01:47) Myths of Grief, Kubler-Ross & fMRI (00:03:56) Brain Mapping Experiment, Proximity (00:07:05) Inferior Parietal Lobule; Space, Time & Closeness (00:09:20) Episodic Memory & Remapping After Loss (00:11:28) Sponsor: Eight Sleep (00:14:21) Tool: Dedicated Time, Counterfactual…

People in this episode

Host: Huberman

Topics covered

  • grief
  • neuroscience
  • emotional health
  • attachment
  • cortisol rhythms

Keywords

  • grief
  • neuroscience
  • oxytocin
  • cortisol
  • emotional health
  • attachment
  • depression

Sponsors

AG1, LMNT, Eight Sleep

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Kubler-Ross

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